I'm Stronger Than You

Damon had been staring at Elena for about a minute with a smirk, completing his dubious expression. "I think I'm just going to start calling you Buffy."

Elena glared at him. "Hilarious. Rick's been training me. I can do this."

"I think it's sweet you think you're tough enough to take on a vampire who's centuries older than you. Incredibly stupid, but sweet. Alright then, let's see it. Show me what the oh wise Sensai Rick has been teaching you."

Still glaring, Elena focused on Damon. Rick's stake punch was strapped to her arm and Elena eyed where she was planning on hitting Damon: stomach was the easiest target that wouldn't kill him. She threw the punch as hard as she could. She felt a steel grasp on her wrist from where Damon grabbed it in addition to a tug followed by a weight lifted off her wrist.

"Very dead," Damon rebuked. He'd taken her wrist, yanked off the stake punch that had fired upon hitting the floor, and pulled Elena around so that she was facing away from him with her neck exposed. "You picked the biggest target and looked directly at it. Way too obvious."

Elena struggled against Damon's grip. It wasn't painful, but enough for her to feel pressure and know she wasn't going anywhere. "Fine. Let go of me. I'll try again."

"How many times do I have to tell you you're not going to overpower a vampire? Make me let go."

"You just said," Elena retorted, frustrated.

Damon sighed, but didn't let go yet. "Yes. You can keep trying to break my grip all you want. It's not going to happen if I don't let you. So, what's another option?"

Elena looked across the room. The stakes still would have come in handy, but she'd lost them as well in this attempt. But…Damon had only grabbed her one hand in this scenario. She used her other hand to grab the stake she'd slipped into her belt and mimicked jamming the back end against Damon's inside knee.

Damon let her go. "Better. Wouldn't have worked because you would have already been dead, but lesson learned: learn to think outside the box and have a backup plan."

"Right. Don't go for the obvious. My best defense is the element of surprise." Elena nodded, knowing Damon was right and rebuking herself. Rick had told her the same thing.

"Try again." Damon invited, and considered, "And if we're practicing, might as well practice right. Don't want you to get used to not following through your movement."

Elena shook her head, "No. You're right. I'm being stupid." She sat down, "I can't win, not against Klaus."

Damon sighed and came to take a seat beside her. "I meant it, I do admire your spir-" he was cut off when Elena jammed her stake into Damon's right chest, jumping back.

"OW! You little…" but his face broke into disbelieving laugh as he pulled the stake out. "Good. That was good."

Elena smiled in triumph with the praise, but maintained her spot where she'd sprinted off to.

"Alright, but don't let it get to your head." In the next second Damon was in front of her again. He threw a punch ridiculously slow, but still stopped it from colliding with Elena's head. He sighed again. "Even throwing an attack, you need to remember you're on the defensive side of the fight. Learn to anticipate."

"How? You move too fast. I'll never be able to see that."

Damon sighed again. "Elena, let's be honest. You get caught in a hand to hand fight with Klaus, you're dead. What more can I do to prove that to you? All I'm trying to grant you is the slim chance you can stay one step ahead of him." With zero force behind it, Damon thrust out his right hand next to Elena's head. "I just threw that punch. What's the one move you can be sure won't be immediately next?"

"Another punch from that hand."

"Good. It'll take less than a second to throw another one with that hand, but time all the same. More likely would be what?"

"A kick or punch from the other." Elena darted behind Damon and picked up a grenade she's stored.

"Good."

Elena and Damon moved to exchanging mock punches, though he instructed Elena again to not pull any of hers. A few she managed to land and Damon tried not to laugh when she grimaced down at her hand. "You do realize I barely felt that?"

"It's stronger than when I first did it with Rick," Elena defended.

"Good for Rick. I'm not him. And I'm not human. So it doesn't matter. For the millionth time, Buffy, you're not strong enough." Damon picked her up and threw her onto her back against the floor, hard enough that she felt it, but not hard enough to do any real damage.

Elena winced, but stared at Damon looking down at her. Her first instinct was to move away and get up, but he'd be expecting that. So, she stayed still, daring to let her eyes show the shock she had actually felt with the force of how hard she'd landed.

Damon went to take a mildly concerned step forward before he stopped, approving as he realized what she was trying to plan. "Nice try. Might work once, not twice. Get up."

Elena smiled, hopping up. They spent the next several minutes continuing to exchange punches, focused on anticipation and never stopping. Still slowly, Damon threw a left hook that she blocked and even managed to hop out of the way of the following kick. Never full speed, of course, but he had started moving faster. He never let anything connect more than a light touch, unless she had been stupid and even then, he wasn't trying to hurt her. But, even at quarter speed, for each time he did connect, more and more Elena surprised at him at how often he didn't.

"Good," Damon granted, "It's important you know I still say I'm humoring you, but you're doing better. That was good, Elena."